The Copenhagen IPCC report is released today.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/02/rapid-carbon-emission-cuts-severe-impact-climate-change-ipcc-report

The article contains these two conflicting comments. 

"The lowest cost route to stopping dangerous warming would be for emissions to peak by 2020 – an extremely challenging goal – and then fall to zero later this century."

but

"The report also makes clear that carbon emissions, mainly from burning coal, oil and gas, are currently rising to record levels, not falling." 

I'm afraid that looks to this bear of little brain like we're all doomed. Mankind will continue business as usual, with accelerating carbon emissions until either resource limits or pollution (in the form of global warming, smog or whatever) put a hard stop to it. The question is when, not if.

I've no doubt people will latch onto the uncertainties, or to phrases like this. "Tackling climate change need only trim economic growth rates by a tiny fraction, the IPCC states, and may actually improve growth by providing other benefits, such as cutting health-damaging air pollution. And they'll try to say that it's not that bad really and can be dealt with. I'm afraid though that I simply don't see how China, India, USA and others will ever want to slow down until nature forces them to. 

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

I want to buy a final edition 7th gen iPod Classic 160 with the v2.0.5 firmware in the UK. I don't mind a few scratches as long as the display is still ok. Anyone?

I need a 7th generation Classic 160 because this went back to a single platter drive and there's a 240Gb disk that fits and works. The previous 6th Gen 160 (which I have) used a dual platter drive with an unusual interface and can't be upgraded.

About 2 years ago, the final 7th Gen Classic iPod was upgraded with slightly different hardware that worked with the final v2.0.5 firmware. If it came with 2.0.4 then it probably can't be upgraded. 2.0.5 is desirable because there's a software setting to disable the EU volume limit. When Apple did all this, they didn't actually update the product codes or SKU# So People will claim they have a 7th Gen MC297QB/A or MC297LL/A and it might or might not be the right one. The only way to be sure is to try and update to 2.0.5

So at the moment I'm chasing several on eBay but having to wait for the sellers to confirm what they're actually selling before putting in bids and losing out. Apparently I'm not alone as prices are rising. The few remaining brand new ones are quoted on "Buy Now" prices at a premium, sometimes twice the final RRP. Gasp!

I f***ing hate Apple for playing all these games. I hate them for discontinuing the Classic 160. I hate that there's no real alternative.

1st world problems, eh? It seems like just recently I keep running up against this. I'm constantly off balance because things I thought were sorted and worked OK, are no longer available. Or the company's gone bust or been taken over. Or the product has been updated and what was good is now rubbish. Or the product is OK, but nobody actually stocks the whole range so you have to buy it on trust over the net.
[from: Google+ Posts]

Aphex Twin leaking a fake version of Syro a few weeks before the official release was genius. It's spread all over the file sharing sites so it's hard to find the real release. The file names match[1]. The music is believeable but deliberately lacks lustre. It's really a brilliant pastiche of an Aphex Twin album as if some Russian producer has gone out of their way to make an homage example of what they thought Aphex Twin was doing.

http://www.electronicbeats.net/en/features/reviews/the-fake-aphex-twin-leak-is-a-hyperreal-conundrum/

[1] What's a bit weird though is that the MP3 files not only have the same filenames but seem to be the same size and have the same checksum.

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

Hilarious bit of spam email today.

illuminatiworld781
Are you a business man or business woman, politician, musical, student and you want to be very rich,powerful and be famous in life. You can achieve your dreams by been a member of the Illuminati. With this all your dreams and heart desire can be fully accomplish, Illuminati cult online today and get instant sum of $25,000monthly for becoming a member and $100,000 for doing what you like to do . so if you have the interest, you can call, +447064249899 or +447053824724 

But I'm having trouble finding any 5s in 781, fnord.
[from: Google+ Posts]

Here we are on the surface of this spaceship, travelling through time and space at 1 second per second (roughly) and about 360 km/sec towards Leo.

So what I want to know is, who's in charge? Because I have to say there are some aspects of the cruise that I'm not entirely happy with.
[from: Google+ Posts]

One for the bucket list. Get yourself to a train station in Morocco in early June 2015. Get picked up and taken to a small village in the Rif mountains where you'll be looked after and fed by families in their homes for 3 days. The Master Musicians Of Joujouka then play their special blend of Sufi music each day and late into each night. Places limited to 50 and it's €360 all in.

http://thequietus.com/articles/16457-master-musicians-of-joujouka-festival-2015

There's a slightly cheaper one day version (€100) on 15-Nov-2014 tied in with the Beat Conference (17/19 Nov) in Tangier to celebrate the 100th anniversary of William Burrough's birth. The conference fee is basically B&B in the hotel plus food.

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

China's per capita CO2 production (7.2 tonnes pa) is now higher than the EU's (6.8). It's still half the USA's (16.5) per capita figure but it's increased 4 fold since 2001.

The totals are more like China 29%, USA 15%, EU 10% of total pa CO2 production.

So now what happens?

http://rationthefuture.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/world-carbon-emissions-out-of-control.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29239194

Obviously, it's all OK, because Paul Krugman (Nobel prize winning economist and NYT columnist) says "Saving the planet would be cheap; it might even be free." with a bit of carbon tax, carbon credits and other strong measures to limit carbon emissions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/opinion/paul-krugman-could-fighting-global-warming-be-cheap-and-free.html
And anyone who disagrees is just indulging in "climate despair".

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

Assuming it's not actually raining, we're planning on going to the Cody Dock, Cody Wilds launch party on Sunday. https://www.facebook.com/events/805976122778470/
with a short detour to Trinity Buoy Wharf to see the Long Player http://longplayer.org/visit/.

For all the peeps in East London, if you've got nothing better to do this Sunday afternoon, you might like it. Especially if you bicycle, you need to get yourself to Twelvetrees Crescent and then walk/cycle down the East side of the Lea and Bow Creek. Bromley-By-Bow is close, or come at it from the other side via Star Lane DLR. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5237749,-0.0079912,18z/data=!5m1!1e3

Of course, if it's raining all day, then maybe not.

More detail here.
http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/cody-wilds.html

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

Reality needs less cowbell, say cows. And I for one, agree.

But it does need a saxophone on the bridge.

http://www.geek.com/geek-cetera/it-turns-out-that-cowbells-make-cows-miserable-1605552/

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

Some things to think about re Fermi's paradox. Life should be all over the galaxy, let alone the universe. So, where the heck is everybody?

Well, maybe, on any Earth type planet, If there is insufficient stored carbon available, the species will not be able to develop a technologically advanced society due to insufficient energy for the development of enough complexity. But if there is sufficient stored carbon available, the species will inevitably destroy itself.

It's just thermodynamics, innit. 

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Fermi.html

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

When we marched against the Iraq war, the demands were fairly simple even if they were ignored.

But when we march against "Climate Change" what are we asking for? What do we want to happen next?

http://peoplesclimate.org/global/#map

I suspect marching about climate change is like dancing about architecture. But if it makes us feel better, maybe it's still worth while.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2014/sep/21/peoples-climate-march-live

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

New Taboos

From an essay by John Shirley.
http://www.amazon.com/Taboos-Outspoken-Authors-John-Shirley/dp/1604867612

From http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/21/1225129/-Sci-Fi-Fantasy-Club-New-Taboos-by-John-Shirley
What if the phrase "Obscene Profits" were not just a figure of speech?  What if the practice of amassing huge profits while exploiting one's employees, or while contaminating the environment, or while lying to the public, was actually regarded as revolting, and the people who engaged in such practices were shunned as pariahs?

We need some new taboos that we reject utterly. That make us sick. That we will not allow under any circumstances. That are never acceptable. No end ever justifies these means. In the words of Rorschach from Watchmen, "Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon".

Here's a short and incomplete list of possible new taboos:-
1) Polluting or toxifying the environment. Particularly by corporate action for profit but also by individual action.
2) Lying or deceiving for profit. Especially to manipulate children for profit.
3) Using political influence for personal gain.
4) Hiding someone else's theft, fraud, dishonesty or pollution to protect one's own part in the system.
5) Discriminating on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation.
6) Making unreasonably large profits. eg. by taking advantage of a monopoly position to price gouge, or by avoiding tax, or paying absurd top salaries
7) Exploiting workers via uneconomic wages or contracts. eg zero hour contracts or paying minimum wage as opposed to living wage.
8) Exploiting workers via unsafe workplaces and practices for profit
9) Torture under any circumstances
10) Engaging in warfare except in the most dire necessity

These aren't hard. They're just the basic kindergarten rules of behaviour we teach kids.
- Don't poison other children
- Don't lie
- Don't steal
- Don't hurt other kids just to get what you want
- Don't take more than your share of the pudding

So now apply them to adults.

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

PM Press (2013), Edition: First Edition, Paperback, 128 pages
[from: Librarything]

I'll just leave this here.

"If there is no centre, we're all on the edge."

From this review.
http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=15628

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

I was looking for something else and just found this from 2004. Dig those forgotten cultural references! Not entirely sure where it came from so needs citation.

The revolution will be blogged.

You will be able to stay home, brother.
You will be able to plug in, turn on and get your own IP.
You will be able to lose yourself on generic V.i.a.g.r.a and Prozac,
Skip out for a Frapuccino during the free pr0n download,
Because the revolution will be blogged.

The revolution will be blogged.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the NY Times
in 4 parts with commercial popups after a one time registration.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Bush
landing on a carrier and leading a charge by John
Ashcroft, Douglas Rumsfeld and Dick Chaney to eat
the profits stolen on the way to Iraq.
The revolution will be blogged.

The revolution will not be brought to you by
the RIAA and will not star Britney
Spears and Paris Hilton or Eminem and Madonna.
The revolution will not give your iPod a new battery.
The revolution will not lock you in with DRM.
The Atkins diet will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will be blogged, Brother.

There will be a webcam of you and Winona Ryder
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
and Marsha Stewart trying to sneak the drug money past the SEC.
You will be able to predict the winner at 8:32
and get reports from 563 districts because,
The revolution will be blogged.

There will be phonecam pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers on TextAmerica.
There will be phonecam pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers on TextAmerica.
There will be pictures of Rush Limbaugh being
run out of ABC on a rail for "Addiction to prescription drugs".
There will be slow motion and 360 degree QTVR of John
Kerry strolling through Watts in a doubleknit leisure suit
that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Gap, Starbucks, and Hooters will no longer be so damned relevant,
and women will not care if Aleks finally gets down with
Carrie on Sex in the City because people of colour, or even
no colour at all, will be online looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will be blogged.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of heavily pierced women
activists or Condoleeza Rice blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Moby,
the Red Hot Chili Peppers, nor sung by Beyonce, Justin
Timberlake, Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, or R.E.M.
The revolution will be blogged.

The revolution will not be right back after a message from our leader about weapons of mass destruction, homeland security, or the axis of evil.
You will not have to worry about anthrax in your
post, armed sky marshalls, or biometric ID cards.
The revolution will not give you a transportable TV entertainment center.
The revolution will not help you to be all you want to be.
The revolution will put you in control of the keyboard.

The revolution will be blogged, will be blogged,
will be blogged, will be blogged.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
[from: Google+ Posts]

Tor Books (2014), Edition: 1ST, Hardcover, 336 pages
[from: Librarything]

Tor Books (2014), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 384 pages
[from: Librarything]

It's late 2014 and there are cultural critics still arguing that creativity stopped in 2003, using examples from 2004 and 2006. Arctic Monkeys vs Burial as symptom vs diagnosis? That's * so * last decade!

http://crackmagazine.net/music/mark-fisher-interviewed/

I think we fairly desperately need a Post-Retromania and Post-Hauntology in pop cultural analysis.

ps. He's got a book out. How drole.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghosts-My-Life-Depression-Hauntology/dp/1780992262/ref=sr_1_1

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

A while ago I went looking for cocktails named after places and boroughs in New York. There's really quite a lot of them from the well known Manhatten to the Harlem Mugger. That led to trying to do the same thing for London but that proved much harder. Scanning the whole of the Savoy Cocktail book only turned up the Piccadilly and the Mayfair.

This week's cocktail is the Piccadilly.
http://savoystomp.com/2009/07/27/piccadilly-cocktail/
50ml Gin (Portobello), 25ml French Vermouth (Noilly Prat), Dash Grenadine (Monin), Dash Absinthe (No Absinthe so I used Bourdin Pastis), Shaken, Martini Glass. The end result is pink so I added one fluorescent Opies maraschino cherry as a garnish. I'm not really convinced, especially as the Pastis overpowered the other flavours. The Grenadine is really just colour. I think there might be a drink in there though where you make a wet martini (say 4:1) add a dash of grenadine for colour, stir so it doesn't dilute so much and then do a absinthe/pastis wash of the glass the way you would making a Sazerac. So there's just the smell of the Anise without so much of the flavour.

---

[from: Google+ Posts]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29136699

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly? For a Fistful of Dollars, Los Trios Paranoias ride forth. But independently, on separate trains.

Meanwhile Thatcher-Lite in the form of "Grinner" Brown tries to throw the electorate a bone.

Less than 10 days to go, postal votes are in, and now they're trying to make up Devo-Max on the fly because they hadn't planned contingencies for something they've known about for 2 years.

You couldn't make it up, could you. Are they trying to fail?

Bonus Link: http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/09/the-three-amigos-ride-to-scotland

---

[from: Google+ Posts]